DOVER-FOXCROFT (AP) – An Abbott man accused of causing a crash that claimed the lives of two friends has been indicted on manslaughter charges.
Prosecutors contend Heath St. Louis, 22, was behind the wheel when a car went airborne and struck trees in Sebec on Oct. 21, 2004. Killed were Drake Martell, 21, of Sangerville and Elias Russell, 22, of Parkman. St. Louis suffered minor injuries.
No arraignment date has been set. If convicted, St. Louis would face up to 30 years in prison on each of two counts of manslaughter.
Explaining the lapse in time from the accident to the indictment, Piscataquis District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Friday that he and police wanted to make sure they had collected all of the evidence.
“This is a very serious case, and when people die in a car crash, we need to make sure we get all the available evidence, and there was some DNA evidence in this case that needed to be processed, and that takes a lot of time,” Almy said.
That DNA came from blood spots found inside the vehicle, which were submitted to the Maine State Police crime laboratory for analysis. The DNA would indicate where the men were sitting in the car at the time of the accident.
Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.